Q. Compared to two or three years ago is your household paying more or less for the following –

Paying a lot more

Paying a little more

Paying about the same

Paying a little less

Paying a lot less

Don’t know

Feb 2013

Paying a lot more

Mar 2014

Paying a lot more

Feb 2016

Paying a lot more

Electricity and gas

59%

25%

12%

1%

1%

2%

70%

62%

34%

Insurance

31%

38%

21%

3%

1%

7%

43%

36%

24%

Medical, dental

30%

33%

31%

2%

1%

3%

33%

32%

23%

Fresh food – fruit, vegetables, meat

29%

40%

26%

2%

<1%

2%

36%

36%

25%

Petrol

27%

32%

26%

6%

2%

6%

50%

56%

19%

Water

26%

39%

26%

2%

1%

7%

47%

40%

13%

Housing – mortgage or rent

23%

25%

33%

5%

3%

10%

24%

24%

14%

Packaged food

21%

38%

34%

3%

1%

4%

28%

26%

15%

Education

18%

20%

28%

3%

4%

27%

24%

21%

16%

Clothing

14%

30%

44%

8%

2%

3%

21%

17%

13%

Items which respondents said they were “paying a lot more” for were electricity and gas (59%), insurance (31%) and medical/dental (30%).

Since this question was asked in February last year, for all items, the perceptions of paying a lot more have increased substantially. However, these results are similar on most items to the surveys of 2013 and 2014.